Peter Greste Journalist Sentenced In Absentia To 3 Years' Prison

CANBERRA, AUSTRALIA - MARCH 26: (EUROPE AND AUSTRALASIA OUT) Australian Al Jazeera journalist Peter Greste addresses the National Press Club in Canberra, Australian Capital Territory. (Photo by Kym Smith/Newspix/Getty Images)

Australian journalist Peter Greste has been sentenced in absentia to at least three years' jail at a retrial in a Cairo court.

Greste, along with his Al Jazeera colleagues Mohammed Fahmy and Baher Mohamed were given sentences of three years -- though Mohamed received an additional six months for possessing a single bullet.

As Greste was in February deported to Australia, he will avoid imprisonment and was being tried in absentia.

The trio was charged with supporting the banned Muslim Brotherhood and operating in Egypt without a licence.

"Anyone who watched the trial, and we had many people broadcasting or reporting on the trial ... none saw any evidence to substantiate the allegations," Greste told Al Jazeera.

"Whatever the consequences, the fact is that this is a judgment that is not based on evidence. So we need also to call on international pressure, on governments and diplomats around the world, to make it clear to Egypt that it cannot make these kinds of judgments.

"It cannot be allowed to get away with this."

Greste took to social media to express his outrage over the sentencing.

Shocked. Outraged. Angry. Upset. None of them convey how I feel right now. 3 yr sentences for @bahrooz, @MFFahmy11 and me is so wrong.